looks pretty good the photo is clear enoght to see how it turned out. What color is you LCD? I've heard they are the most difficult part of the color change process.

 

How does this one look in the daylight?

 

The LCD I left amber. If I do change it it'll probably be red like my needle. And it looks stock in daylight as I have the stock gaugeface right now. I'll replace it w/ a black one sometime soon. Unless you're referring to the brightness of the LEDs. They're slightly more brighter than stock ones. I JUST did this tonight so I really don't know yet. Gotta wait till tomorrow to find out.

EDIT: I just checked it out, and the amber has to go. I'll experiment w/ the white LEDs and see what it looks like. I'll post the results later tonight

 

Ok done. It's yellowish due to the orange plastic diffuser plate but I actually like it. I think the subdued color compliments the white. I'm going to experiment with different diffuser colors and see what I get.

 

Neat, so lets see another video with the shift light at night?????? pleeeaaassseee

 

Seriously cool, I think you've inspired many of us to go and bust open the tachs now!!

 

lol I need to mount them inside the tach first before I'll show any more vids. I'm awaiting more parts for me to finish it, but should be done soon.

This took me 1.5hrs, but I'm pretty good w/ a soldering iron. It's not all that hard if you're good w/ the iron. Have fun!

 

Here is a scaled down jpg copy of what I'll be installing after the ink dries


White lines, some relocation, also added a graphic and a Redline.

 

He he nice one matey....watch your diffuser isnt too transparent, or you will see the SMDs lit up behind. (look at me giving my secrets away)

Ive done the white numbers before...and id recommend fitting RED smds where the needles go. Looks really sporty then.

 

MY current progress

 

Looking at that pic has made me come up with a plan

 

Thanks Hehe I actually took the diffuser out to see what it'd look like w/o it lol. That was a BAD idea. I'll probably leave it as is since I like it. And I definitely agree about the red needles. Looks really good w/ them.

I need to paint the needle red as I scraped off the orange coating on the needles so they're transparent right now

 

What color you going to make your LEDs?

 

Very tempting, but I'm going to let them stay orange for now, I just had the diffuser out and took a photo. I have to put it together so I can go out today, I'll grab a photo after its in. How do you see the clear needle in the daytime??

 

The clear needle I can make out fine in the daytime. But I'm going to paint it red just to make it more noticeable. One thing I've noticed w/ the amber/yellow OBC display is that it's alot dimmer during the daytime than w/ the regular orange color. It is to be expected with an orange diffuser and white LEDs. I might experiment w/ yellow LEDs and see what those results are.

 

Its all down to what you use to show the light through. Try different "items" to see which is best for both letting light though, and dispersing the light.

 

Yeah...I'm going to try soldering 2 amber LEDs back on and use a real thick white paper as a diffuser. Hopefully the lights will blend in well enough

 

Somewhat finished the speedo today. I ran out of LEDs so couldn't finish I need red LEDs for the needles, and debating whether to get yellow or white LEDs for the LCD display. I only had 3 white LEDs for the LCD display so half of it looks light yellow, and the other half is orange hehe.

 

So....the black dots are where the LED's are....is that right?

Your project looks fantastic

 

How do you change the color on the LCD display? Is it by simply changing LEDs there too? Cause I've seen that in blue and it looks quite trick...

Also, how many LEDs would you say you need to change the tach, speedo, and center console LEDs? Is it hard to crack these things open and to solder on the new LEDs?

 

The color of the LCD depends on the color of the backlighting LEDs and the light diffuser. The stock LEDs are orange and so is the diffuser. I replaced the LEDs with white ones and kept hte stock diffuser which made it look faint yellow. I tried it with white paper as a diffuser and it looks pretty neat, has a nice bluish tint.

I think the tach has 5 LEDs for the backlighting, 3 for the needle, and 4 for the LCD backlighting. The speedo has 8 for backlighting, 6 for fuel and temp gauge needles, and 4 for the speedo needle, and 6 for LCD backlighting.

And no it's not hard to open these things up, there's a few DIYs out there I believe. As for the soldering...these things are pretty small (2mm x 3mm) and require a steady hand with a decent soldering iron w/ a very fine pencil tip. If you're good at soldering shouldn't be a problem, if not...practice makes perfect

 

Where do you buy the LEDs? How much does each cost? This may become a weekend project for me in the near future. I've always wanted blue gauges to match my lapis blue interior...

 

The blue LEDs run about $1.20 a piece, and the other colors are pretty cheap at 20 cents or so. I get all my electronics stuff at www.mouser.com
You want the PLCC SMD LEDs. You can tell by the design of it.

Here's a pic to show you the size of the LEDs.

EDIT: If you're having trouble looking for the LEDs at mouser.com, let me know I'll provide you w/ the part #'s you need.

On a side note, I tried mounting my shiftlight LEDs on the tach, it's going to be MUCH easier by just using SMD LEDs and just gluing them to the gauge face. A diffuser is needed to reduce the spotting effect most likely. So mounting problem is solved

 

The blend is very different on the Speedo gauge display

Fair play for having the bottle to do this work yourself. Ive done loads of these now, and i love doing them. Especially when i see my customers smiles when they see there lights at night.

Ive put a few of the light mods in my gallery

 

Nice work, I haven't checked out mouser yet cause I'm running around getting ready for the track, my tach is in pieces in front of me right now. The next time I open this I think I'll be ready to to the LEDs any word on what it takes to do the 124+ colors, I'm tinking a 3 color LED and then mixing the amounts of each with a dial.